Entrepreneurs Embrace Philanthropy: Just Do It!

Hail the entrepreneurial spirit! Not only in the outré world of the Silicon Valley do great minds dreaming amorphous thoughts intertwine and intermingle to innovate. It happens right here in Richmond, Virginia.

A young entrepreneurial Richmonder dabbled in nonprofits for a few years before heading to the Darden School at UVA and an already successful career in investment management. He brought back ideas from Hands On Atlanta about matching Richmond-area volunteers with philanthropic projects that need them.

A young woman who subsequently became a program officer of The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia (TCF at www.tcfrichmond.org) joined with two of her girlfriends to begin a grass roots web-based effort called Activate Richmond, which encouraged people, young and old, to volunteer and arranged opportunities for them. Within six months of launch, this effort was reorganized as Hands On Greater Richmond (http://activaterichmond.org), a program of the TCF-initiated Partnership for Nonprofit Excellence, and Vanessa Diamond was hired to run it.

Altria (www.altria.com) has a summer internship program for college students at its offices around the U.S., and they gather at the Richmond headquarters for a three-day end of summer program. What would be a good idea for team building to mix in with other training opportunities?

George Wythe High School (http://www.richmond.k12.va.us/schools/wythe_new/) resides in one of Richmond's more troubled neighborhoods and has a poor record of graduating its students and sending them to college. A new principal, who has been at a school in North Carolina for thirteen years has yet to arrive on site, but is looking for ways to jumpstart the year and change the school dramatically for the better. Being great begins with looking great, and this school has a long way to go.

Last Thursday, these forces merged as Vanessa Diamond Director of Hands On Greater Richmond, marshaled volunteer team leaders together with Communities in Schools and a great staff team from Richmond Public Schools. Grounds crews and security paved the way for 175 Altria interns to donate four hours of their time to beautify the George Wythe High School grounds.

What a transformation! Teams had colors for names -- blue, forest green, yellow, white, black, pink, etc. Interns and volunteers bonded, laughed, sweated, toiled and persevered through the afternoon drizzle followed by heat. They mulched, planted, painted and cleaned. Murals appeared, and spaces were transformed. My group had people from the Dominican Republic, Connecticut, Indiana and Virginia, to name a few.

At the end of the day, food greeted the volunteers in the cafeteria. The teams were cheered for their accomplishments and checks were handed out to the nonprofit partners and the school to continue what had been started that day.

I don't do a whole lot of manual labor, but I have to admit that the aches from my 3 ½ hours of mulching felt good. Reflecting on the day, it is serendipitous how all these people wanting to do good have come together and how the future has been changed. Willie Bell has a great start for his tenure as principal. The tough days are ahead, but he has a leg up. Vanessa has earned kudos that will launch Hands On Greater Richmond and the Partnership to greater heights. Altria’s 175 interns have a new view about corporate citizenship and the difference we can make as individuals. Everyone who participated is anxious to do more.

I have never worked in Silicon Valley, but it can't get any better than this.

Robert Thalhimer